The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1887-08-11
SUFFERING FR0N DR0UTH
ALMOST COMPLETE DESTRUCTION
OF CROPS IN THE MORT INVEST.

Forest Fires Raging i'm Many Places,
and Creeks Drying Up and Stock Dying
for Want of water--Ao Rain.
CHICAGO, Aug. 10.-Fhere is an area Of
perhaps 10, 900 square miles in the northwest
where the dust lies heavily upon the earth.
The district is bounded by Madison on the
north, Bloomington on the south, Lake Mich
igan OH the east, and the Mississippi river on
the west. 1t is within the limits of these
boundaries that vegetation has lost its nor
NAL color and the earth its moisture Day
after day the sun sends its burning rays
upon the parched farms and fields.
Leaves are falling from tho trees, the
grass in the meadows has grown yellow and
white, and the streams in which the cattle
used to slack their thirst are dry as powder
horns. II has been nearly ten weeks since
soaking rain fell in this district. Prayers,
pleadings, hopes-all have been OF no avail
A cloudless sky stretches over the wide ex-
panse, and the winds, which spring out Of
the south and west, are sitting
For ten days or more heavy rain clouds
have appeared in the western horizon as the
brassy sun won't down, but as the night
wore on the stars came out in all their
midsummer splendor. How much longer
the drouth viii last is beyond conjecture
The farmers have been disap }ointed so often
in cruel coquettishness Of the western skies
that they have about lost all faith in what
they used TO consider infallble signs. There
have been wet moons and red skies and
copper-colored clouds, but the earth has not
yet felt the patter of rain drops. The big
bull thistle, the pest of every farm, has at
last succumbed to the fate of all other vege-
tables The big weed first wilted, then
turned black and finally fell upon the earth.
With not enough moisture in the ground to
feed thistle the condition of corn and the
tender grass in the meadow may be imag-
ined
In Southern Wisconsin there are thous.
ands Of acres where corn will not yield
peck to the acre. The crop has been scorched
and almost totally destroyed. The leaves Of
the cereals are yellow and brittle and droop
almost to the ground.
The loss of the corn crop, serious as it is
will noJ impoverish the farmers. They have
lived in the country since the land was first
titled, and have. for the most part, laid by
enough money to carry them through win
ter But their are other dangers to be con-
fronted Wells have run dry, and in some
towns water famineS are imminent The
drinking water at hand is often polluted and
filed with poisonous germs
Typhoid fever is becoming more preva-
lent and dysentery and other stomach dis
tubances are SO common in some places as to
be almost epidemic Unless rain falls be-
fore many days the suffering will be greatly
augmented The intense heat has been a
terrific strain upon MAJ, but its effect upon
cattle has been simply appalling. Without
pasturage 10 browse Upon, or pools i'll which
to stand during the ho5 hCurs OF the day, the
poor beasts have become SO emaCiated as to
be wholly mmarketable. The farmers in
the dairy districts have in some instances
been compelled to feed and water their cows
from their own larder. In other places
forest trees have been felled and dragged to
the pastures and the cattle turned loose to
browse upon the leaves. Hundreds of cows
are being killed and shipped to market for a
mere pittance.
At Winslow, ILL.,, one farmer bought ten
head of cattle last january at so per head.
When he offered to sell the entire herd last
week for 800 he could not find purchaser.
Farmers in this district have already turned
their cattle loose to feed upon the crops. In
some places fences have been run through
corn fields, and the starving cattle permitted
to feed upon the leaves and stalks, When
these have been eaten, the fences are ex-
tended until the entire fields have been eaten
clean.
Added to all the mseries attending the
great drouth is the constant fear of fires.
The tall grass of the prairies is dead the
fields are ready 10 burst into flames, and
leaves lie in heaps in the forest
A spark starts fire, and the blistering
Sahara-lile wind fans fame into conha-
grafton. Already the land encompassed by
the boundaries has baen backened by wild
fire. In soma towns tie people are often
called out three or four times day to fight
the flames.
In Racine, the other day, the withered
grass about tie Church Of the good Shep-
herd, an ancient structure facing the city
piazza, burst into fiam"S and it was not un.
til the fire department was called out that
the fire was extingushed.
A few days before Mound cemetery, 70
mantle spot near the same city, where the
bones of departed mound builders, Indians
and townspeople rest under sturdy oaks and
elms, was threatened by fire.
The flames were ragir tiercely in the yell
low grass near the old metropolis, when tho
fire fighters arrived, but by hard work they
were prevented from sweeping among the
tombstones and mounds
The cemetery at Waukegan is near the
railroad tracks, and so great is the danger
of the grass catching fire from locomotive
sparks that the sacred ground is patrolled
almost constantly.
, Destructive fires have been raging for
many days in Kenosha, Racine and Wal
worth counties in Wisconsin. Thousands of
acres have been swept by the flames, and
the loss to farmers in hay, grain, fencing
and buildings is very great.
Above Madison the bogs are burning
fiercely, and the pungent smoke hangs over
the country for miles around. In Northern
Illinois fires are so numerous that the farm
ers have plowed the ground about their
buildings in order to check the progress of
the flames.
Should the drouth remain Unbroken much
longer incalculable ruin will be- wrong hit
by these fires, which spring up in unex-
1ected places and in the most mysterious
manner.
Logging Camp burned Out.
FARwEIL Mich, Aug. 20. The logging
camps of f. p Boughton and company, and
John Moloney were destroyed by forest
fires yesterday, the occupants Of the former
camp having barely time to gather up their
clothing and escape. The fires are spread
ing.
At Long Lake, forest fires broke out this
morning but no accounts Of damage have
Nor,a in, Wat